The present invention relates generally to corn harvesting apparatus and, more particularly, to a corn harvester combine assembly including an attachment which may be positioned between a self-propelled combine and a corn head attachment to cause ear corn to be removed from the corn head attachment and off loaded to a wagon or the like to prevent further processing of the ear corn by the combine.
Self-propelled combines have been in widespread use for the past 20 or 30 years for harvesting various crops. Corn harvesting combines are conventionally used with a front end attachment known as a corn head, which comprises a plurality of forwardly projecting gathering members forming a comb-like configuration, having snapping rolls located between the gathering members. The gathering members travel between the rows of corn, causing the corn stalks to pass between the snapping rolls where the ears of corn are pulled from the stalks. The separated ears of corn are thereafter conveyed to a central portion of the corn head, usually by an auger, which causes the ear corn to move through an opening in the rear of the corn head and thereafter through a second opening in a forward portion of the combine. A conveying system in the combine moves the corn through various processing areas within the interior of the harvester. Several operations are performed on the corn as it passed through the harvester, including removal of the corn husks and shelling. The shelled corn may be stored in a storage portion of the combine or may be transferred by a conveying system to a supplementary storage vehicle such as a grain truck or wagon. Corn harvesting combines and corn heads, therefore, are described in Hoeksema U.S. Pat. No. 3,174,266; Ashton et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,350,863; and Sammann U.S. Pat. No. 4,137,695 which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Processing of the corn in the above described manner allows the shelled corn, which is the most highly concentrated feed component of the plant, to be efficiently stored in grain elevators or the like. However, there are a number of situations in which it is generally desirable to retain the ear corn intact on the cob for subsequent storage in unprocessed form. One situation in which harvesting of corn in ear corn form is desirable is harvesting of sweet corn for subsequent sale to consumers as ear corn. Another situation for harvesting whole ears is harvesting of feed corn that is to be fed to local livestock. Corn fed in whole ear form provides additional nutrients, etc. which are present in the cob and husk.
Numerous apparatus exist for picking ear corn without the additional steps of husking, shelling, etc. Most such units are adapted to be mounted on or towed by a conventional farm tractor. Such tractor mounted corn pickers are described in Kuhlman, U.S. Pat. No. 2,560,801; Adolphsen, U.S. Pat. No. 2,787,877; Solterbeck, U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,375; and Looker, U.S. Pat. No. 3,429,111. However, due to the relatively small size of conventional farm tractors as compared to harvester combines, such units can typically handle only two or three rows of corn at a time and are thus substantially less efficient than a combine which may utilize a large corn head to handle eight or more rows at a time.
Weber, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,693,330 and Ashton, U.S. Pat. No. 3,630,009 describe self-propelled sweet corn harvesters which have specially adapted internal assemblies which are used rather than conventional husking and shelling assemblies to cause the corn to be stored in the combine in ear corn form. Such combine assemblies, although suited for picking corn in ear form, are not readily adaptable for processing corn in shelled form. Thus, a farmer utilizing such a combine would be required to invest in a second combine for harvesting corn in shelled form or would be required to spend a considerable amount of time modifying the internal structure of his combine to make it usable in both a shelled corn harvesting mode and an ear corn harvesting mode.
It would be generally desirable to provide a combine assembly which could be readily adapted for use in either a shelled corn harvesting mode or an ear corn harvesting mode.